Man Found Guilty In '94 Fire That Killed 7

A 29-year-old North Side man was found guilty on seven counts of first-degree murder Friday for setting a fatal fire to an apartment building in March 1994 after being evicted for not paying his rent.

Julius Kuntu, who had appeared shoeless and wearing sweat clothes at his initial court hearing in 1994, sat stoically Friday in a maroon blazer, tie and dark pants as the verdict was read and the jury was polled.

He was also convicted of three counts of aggravated arson. Prosecutors said they plan to seek the death penalty in the case. That hearing is to begin Monday morning.

A dozen relatives of the seven victims of the blaze cried tears of joy as the verdicts were read. At the same time, a half-dozen family members of Kuntu's shed tears of sorrow.

Neither side commented publicly afterward, but Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Mary Brosnahan, who prosecuted the case with Assistant State's Atty. March Lacy, said, "It certainly was the verdict we were hoping for based on the evidence."

The outcome of the weeklong trial appeared to hinge on how the jury viewed the assertion of defense lawyer Leslie Starks that Kuntu was "mentally incompetent" and did not understand his actions or his Miranda rights after his arrest.

Psychiatrists and psychologists for the prosecution and defense testified Friday and gave contradictory assessments of his mental state.

A defense psychologist described Kuntu as "retarded," while doctors for the prosecution said that in their opinion the defendant was malingering or "faking it."

In the end, the jury of six men and six women deliberated for 1 1/2 hours and sided with the prosecution.

Kuntu, who did not testify during the trial, had only four words to say as he was escorted out of the courtroom: "Come and see me," he uttered to his mother, who sat in a courtroom pew.

Police said the tragedy began to unfold on March 24, 1994, when Kuntu found out that he was being evicted from his apartment at 917 W. Dakin St. for allegedly being seven months behind on his rent.

According to investigators, when Kuntu came home that day and found the door to his apartment padlocked, he angrily told a friend that he was considering burning the building down.

They said he then purchased $3 worth of gasoline and set fire to the 48-unit building. A family of five and two other residents were killed by the flames, a dozen others were injured, and the rest of the building's occupants were left homeless.

Kuntu was arrested shortly afterward at his job at a nearby fast-food restaurant and was charged after being identified in a police lineup by the service station attendant who sold him the gasoline. The attendant said that when he refused to allow Kuntu to put the gasoline in a bucket, the suspect purchased a gasoline can for $7.